Darya Ganor

As a librarian and Wikipedian-in-residence at the National Library of Israel, Darya Ganor spends her days helping people locate the resources they need through Wikipedia. About a year ago, she met fellow Wikimedian Avner Kantor at a meetup in Tel Aviv, she explains:

On Wikipedia’s 14th birthday, Avner proposed to me. It seemed very natural, as we both feel that Wikipedia‘s community is family.

I remember meeting Avner for the first time at a Wikimedia Meetup…Wiki-Academy had just successfully completed its 6th conference and everyone was in good spirits. Avner came in late. He knew everyone in the room, except for a girl in a red who caught his eye.

Avner asked around and learned that I was the Wikipedian in Residence at the National Library of Israel. So naturally, the next time he saw me at the library, he started a conversation. The first thing we talked about was a recent complaint the Library‘s Reference Desk in Wikipedia had received. He was unaware that I was in charge of the Reference Desk and that I wasn‘t very happy being criticized. So we kept our distance during the Hebrew Wikipedia birthday that summer.

The positive energies of it, the wanting to make the world better, that‘s Wikipedia for me. That‘s what I want to share with people.

On Wikipedia’s 14th birthday, organized by Wikimedia Israel, Avner was to give a lecture titled “How to find love in Wikipedia and what do Wikipedians do when they are in love.” It was supposed to be a theoretical lecture on couples in Wikipedia. He even invited my brother to the lecture: I still didn’t figure out that something was up.

The lecture started, Avner spoke about how he began writing in Wikipedia, and how we met. Not exactly a theoretical lecture. :) Then, his last piece of advice for finding love was to dedicate an article for your beloved. He dedicated an entry of a well-known poem by Natan Alterman called ‘Eternal Meeting’. He then read a verse from that poem, looking straight at me, his voice trembling a bit:

You stormed in to me
I’ll forever play your tune
(Avner’s addition) Will you give me your hand in marriage…
‘Eternal Meeting’ by—Natan Alterman